#3 Reggie Brown: Could have been a star. Thank the Lord he can live a fruitfull life.

#2 George Jamison: Silent preformer,allways made solid tackles,just a player I liked on the field.

#1 Chris Spielman: A true MLb'er. A football player too the core.

These are just my favorites. I wasn't around to see 56 play.

October 21st, 2004, 12:50 am

Pablo

RIP Killer

Joined: August 6th, 2004, 9:21 amPosts: 9589Location: Dallas

Sammy,

Welcome to the board - glad you joined.

Spielman was the heart and soul of the Lions defense for years and brought true grit and determination to the field. Always had blood streaming from his forehead - gotta love that. Undersized and a bit slow, he was one of those atheletes that performed above his talent level and you had to love him for that and his pure intensity.

Jamison was quite, but he had the body of a greek god. He was effective on the field and caused no problems off. He was often overshadowed by Spielman and got little credit outside of Detroit.

Brown didn't play enough for me to really rate him. He had a world of talent and it was tough to see his career end like it did.

Hopefully some of the Lions young LBs step up to make this list, at least for the younger fans. Boss certainly has a lot of talent. Lehman has potential as well.

Certainly older fans would point to players like Chuck Schmidt and Alex Wojciechowicz, both of whom are in the HOF. I put those two and Spielman on Lionbacker's all-time Lions team under the history section:

Hey don't even go their! I still can't believe we gave up the chance to draft Willy Roaf for that scrub. We even took #56 out of retirement for him. Was SWILL-ing a LB or just an edge rusher?

October 21st, 2004, 11:24 am

sportspig

Stadium Announcer

Joined: August 11th, 2004, 3:55 pmPosts: 77Location: Polka Town

Edge rusher past his prime by the time we picked him up. A bad move for sure.

Even though he was a tweener I always liked Mike Cofer.

October 21st, 2004, 4:28 pm

SammytheBull

Fair Weather Fan

Joined: October 20th, 2004, 3:53 pmPosts: 6

More on Swilling

We traded our 8th overall for him. We could of had Willie Roaf. Wayne wanted a DE that could "Block out the sun". Got burned on that one.

October 21st, 2004, 5:51 pm

Pablo

RIP Killer

Joined: August 6th, 2004, 9:21 amPosts: 9589Location: Dallas

Thanks for that reminder...

Swilling had a huge reputation (played on a great LB core with the Saints then). The Lions were a good team missing a few pieces, seemed like a good idea at the time but now looking back...

October 21st, 2004, 5:54 pm

SammytheBull

Fair Weather Fan

Joined: October 20th, 2004, 3:53 pmPosts: 6

Ya the Saints had some D. I remember Swilling and Sam Mills who were the other 2 guys at LB'er. Just can't remember?

October 21st, 2004, 6:01 pm

Pablo

RIP Killer

Joined: August 6th, 2004, 9:21 amPosts: 9589Location: Dallas

Rickey Jackson and Vaughn Johnson - they were 4 strong linebackers. The Saints played in a 3-4 so Swilling often moved up as a pash rusher in obvious pass situations. I remember one year, I think it was 1992, all 4 linebackers made the Pro Bowl - that's pretty impressive. They also lead the lead in sacks that year.

October 21st, 2004, 11:40 pm

SammytheBull

Fair Weather Fan

Joined: October 20th, 2004, 3:53 pmPosts: 6

Thanks Pablo,those were the guys. they were dominate.

October 21st, 2004, 11:59 pm

Pablo

RIP Killer

Joined: August 6th, 2004, 9:21 amPosts: 9589Location: Dallas

Your welcome and yes they were dominate, unfortunately for the Saints they couldn't make it out of the first round of the playoffs.